Washington's Wall Street Sugar Daddies

If
you’re like most people, it’s priceless. But for the hedge funds and insurance
companies on Wall Street, it does have a price tag. And now, thanks to a new
report by Global Exchange, we know the number on it: approximately $4.2
billion. That’s how much the Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate (F.I.R.E.) sector
has invested in political influence through campaign contributions and lobbying
since 2006. That comes to $1,331 a minute spent on political power.

The
new report is called “Meet the F.I.R.E. Sector: How Wall Street Is Burning
Democracy.” It was developed by Elect Democracy, a nonpartisan effort by Global
Exchange to expose and challenge the impact of corporate money in U.S.
politics. The report contains extensive research tracking Wall Street’s
investment in political power, and analyzes exactly how Wall Street has secured
what Global Exchange calls “industry-loyal voting practices” in Congress: by
shoveling stacks of campaign cash in the direction of Congressional hopefuls
from both major political parties.

Elect Democracy has used the report to develop a new legislative scorecard that makes it
easy for you to trace how your legislators voted on key issues such as the bank
bailout, Wall Street reform, and free trade agreements.

That
money lets these industries get what they want in Washington. The F.I.R.E.
sector contributed $879 million to members of Congress since 2006, and took
positions on 383 bills during the 112th Congress. For instance, they supported
Free Trade Agreements with Korea, Panama, and Colombia in 2007, and backed the
bailout in 2008. Bills they opposed include the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform
and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, the Limited Homeowner and Investor Loss in
Foreclosure Act of 2010, and the Stop Student Loan Interest Rate Hike Act of
2011.

At
every turn, the F.I.R.E. sector demands special treatment for Wall Street while
consumers, homeowners, and students get stuck with the bills. As Senator Bernie Sanders put it an interview with MSNBC this May, "Wall Street is extraordinarily powerful. Congress doesn't regulate them. The big banks regulate what Congress does."

Luckily,
the F.I.R.E sector does have a weakness. It only works in the dark.

That’s
no exaggeration. The Wall Street banks that received the lion’s share of the
$700 billion bailout in 2008 comprise the most vocal and deep-pocketed
opposition to regulation of risky financial practices.

Follow the Money

Luckily,
the F.I.R.E sector does have a weakness. It only works in the dark. When people
know that their representatives are only supporting Wall Street causes because
they’ve been bought off, they tend to stop wanting to vote for those
representatives.

Elect Democracy has used the report to develop a new legislative scorecard that makes it
easy for you to trace how your legislators voted on key issues such as the bank
bailout, Wall Street reform, and free trade agreements. Not only that, but you
can see for yourself how much money they received in campaign contributions
from the F.I.R.E. sector, as well as what we call their “industry loyalty
voting rate.”

Americans
value democracy and despise corruption....The more toxic bank money
candidates accept, the more vulnerable they are to having the source of their
money exposed.

Global
Exchange researchers calculated that rate for each Congressperson by comparing
how often their votes matched the F.I.R.E. sector’s lobbying position on the
seven bills examined in the scorecard. As it turns out, the representatives who
received the 25 biggest campaign contributions from the F.I.R.E. sector voted
identically to Wall Street’s lobby position 73 percent of the time, while the average
House “loyalty rate” was a mere 56 percent.

Many
complex factors affect how legislators vote, but corporate sponsorship
shouldn’t be one of them. Even on Wall Street’s gilded beltway, the F.I.R.E sector companies
can’t literally buy political representation—at least, not yet. Instead, they
use money to buy influence over voters to elect certain legislators, who they
then use lobbyists to influence.

Most Americans
value democracy and despise corruption, so a spotlight on this process could leave
the F.I.R.E. sugar daddies powerless. The more toxic bank money
candidates accept, the more vulnerable they are to having the source of their
money exposed.

The goals of this project are not to tell anyone who to vote for, but to get everyone to follow the money; not to influence the outcome of any one election, but to spark
dialogue about accountability and transparency, and to stop Wall Street from
burning our priceless democracy; to together expose how Wall Street’s
campaign money is toxic for democracy, and amplify the message that our democracy
is not for sale.

Interested?

Check out this of Wall Street spending in politics since 2006.

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Hillary V. Lehr wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas and practical actions. Hillary has worked with Rainforest Action Network,
co-founded the California Student Sustainability Coalition, and is currently taking on Wall Street money in
politics as Campaign Director for Global Exchange’s Elect Democracy project.